Generic Text!

It's super easy to put generic text into a Word document for all of your filler text needs (especially useful during demos and presentations). Just start a new paragraph and:
Type "=rand()" and press Enter for three paragraphs of text
Type "=lorem()"and press Enter for three paragraphs of random characters that approximate a normal distribution of letters know as Lorem Ipsum

Example of the result of "=rand()"

On the Insert tab, the galleries include items that are designed to coordinate with the overall look of your document. You can use these galleries to insert tables, headers, footers, lists, cover pages, and other document building blocks. When you create pictures, charts, or diagrams, they also coordinate with your current document look.

You can easily change the formatting of selected text in the document text by choosing a look for the selected text from the Quick Styles gallery on the Home tab. You can also format text directly by using the other controls on the Home tab. Most controls offer a choice of using the look from the current theme or using a format that you specify directly.

To change the overall look of your document, choose new Theme elements on the Page Layout tab. To change the looks available in the Quick Style gallery, use the Change Current Quick Style Set command. Both the Themes gallery and the Quick Styles gallery provide reset commands so that you can always restore the look of your document to the original contained in your current template.

Example of "=lorem()"
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Maecenas porttitor congue massa. Fusce posuere, magna sed pulvinar ultricies, purus lectus malesuada libero, sit amet commodo magna eros quis urna.

Nunc viverra imperdiet enim. Fusce est. Vivamus a tellus.

Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus et malesuada fames ac turpis egestas. Proin pharetra nonummy pede. Mauris et orci.
More/Less Words and More/Less Paragraphs

If you'd like more or less than three paragraphs, you can get specific like this: =rand(insert the number of paragraphs, insert the number of sentences)
=lorem(insert the number of paragraphs, insert the number of sentences)

For example, "=lorem(1,6)" gives you:
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Maecenas porttitor congue massa. Fusce posuere, magna sed pulvinar ultricies, purus lectus malesuada libero, sit amet commodo magna eros quis urna. Nunc viverra imperdiet enim. Fusce est. Vivamus a tellus.

And "=rand(1,6)" gives you:
On the Insert tab, the galleries include items that are designed to coordinate with the overall look of your document. You can use these galleries to insert tables, headers, footers, lists, cover pages, and other document building blocks. When you create pictures, charts, or diagrams, they also coordinate with your current document look. You can easily change the formatting of selected text in the document text by choosing a look for the selected text from the Quick Styles gallery on the Home tab. You can also format text directly by using the other controls on the Home tab. Most controls offer a choice of using the look from the current theme or using a format that you specify directly.

If you only include one number between the parentheses, that number will be the number of paragraphs, and each of the paragraphs will have five sentences in them. So "=rand(1)" does this:

On the Insert tab, the galleries include items that are designed to coordinate with the overall look of your document. You can use these galleries to insert tables, headers, footers, lists, cover pages, and other document building blocks. When you create pictures, charts, or diagrams, they also coordinate with your current document look.

Lastly, if you can't get enough filler text, know that you will max out at about 200 pages of filler text per "insertion." For example, you can type "=lorem(111,111)" for 111 paragraphs with 111 sentences each, or 129 pages of filler, but you cannot type "=lorem(99999999999999999, 99999999999999999)" on your least favorite co-worker's computer to bring their CPU to its knees. J

Why use Pivot Tables?

Pivot Tables are meant to save you a ton of time!  In data processing, a pivot table is a data summarization tool found in data visualization programs such as spreadsheets. Among other functions, pivot-table tools can automatically sort, count, total or give the average of the data stored in one table or spreadsheet. It displays the results in a second table (called a "pivot table") showing the summarized data. Pivot tables are also useful for quickly creating unweighted cross tabulations.

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/excel-help/overview-of-pivottable-and-pivotchart-reports-HP010342752.aspx

Pivot Tables, Slicers, and other items are covered in New Horizons Excel Level 2 class and our Excel 2010 Pivot Table class.

Hiding Column A

If you ever make the mistake on hiding column A, not to worry, here is a quick way to bring it back!

Select the Home tab from the toolbar at the top of the screen. In the Editing group, click on the Find button and select "Go To" from the popup menu.

When the GoTo window appears, enter A1 in the Reference field and click on the OK button.

Select the Home tab from the toolbar at the top of the screen. Select Cells > Format > Hide & Unhide > Unhide Columns.

Now you should be able to see column A in your Excel spreadsheet.

Missing a Tab in Your Ribbon?

Can you see the developer tab on your ribbon?

By default this tab is not shown in the ribbon. To turn it on open the Word Options Dialog and select the Customize Ribbon tab. Then check the box next to the developer tab.

What are File Extensions?

We see them every day at the end of our document names, normally 3 letters (but doesn't have to be 3) that are added to files after we create them. But why are they there? Files extensions are a very important part of a file. Their main purpose is to tell your computer what program or application to use when opening that file. Without the extension your computer would not know how to open your files.

Have you ever gotten a message asking what program you want to open a file in? If you get that then most likely your computer does not have the application associated with that files extension. If you every need to know what program a file extension is associated with here is a link to an alphabetical list of file extension (I know this is a Wikipedia link but trust me it is correct): Extension List

Are you Sick of Google Docs Messing up your Formating

SkyDrive is Microsoft’s answer to Google Docs. It allows you to upload, organize, download and manage a wide range of content online through the Windows Live server. You can access your files from any computer with an active Internet connection. SkyDrive lets you share files, too, either through the Windows Live network or by opening them up on a computer and showing them to someone sitting next to you. Just like GoogleDocs, Microsoft lets you manage all your SkyDrive content through one Windows Live username.

SkyDrive allows you to utilize Microsoft Office and Office Live to work back and forth with documents without worrying about losing formatting and other features. Since the documents created are already in the proper format, you do not have to change anything to get them to display properly on SkyDrive. This also applies to when you download documents from SkyDrive to your hard drive and open them. This type of synchronicity is vital to making sure your documents stay the way you need them to while on the go.